L A T E S T      N E W S

IAS officer probing Vadra transferred

New Delhi: Haryana’s top land records officer Ashok Khemka was transferred within hours after ordered a probe into all land dealings of Robert Vadra, who is under fire over his business links with DLF.

Khmeka, then Inspector General of Registration Haryana, in an order dated October 12, 2012 asked the deputy commissioners cum registrars of the four districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal and Mewat to inspect all documents registered from January 1, 2005 to till date by or on behalf of Robert Vadra.

The marching orders for Khmeka comes at a time when the country was still digesting the allegations made by India Against Corruption led by Arvind Kejriwal. IAC has alleged corruption in certain transactions involving realty major DLF and Robert Vadra.

Importantly, Khemka had also cancelled the mutation of 3.53 acres of land that was sold by Vadra's Sky Light Hospitality Private Limited to DLF, after he found irregularities in the transfer of land. The land deal in Manesar-Shikohpur reportedly had signatures by an unauthorised Haryana official, the document said.

Sachin to get rare Australian honour

New Delhi: Sachin Tendulkar is set to add another feather to his already crowded cap as Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Tuesday announced that the iconic Indian cricketer will be conferred the membership of the Order of Australia, an honour "rarely" awarded to non-Australians. The

39-year-old Tendulkar, who is currently in South Africa playing in the Champions League Twenty20, will become only the second Indian after former attorney general Soli Sorabjee to get the honour.

Sorabjee was made an honorary member of the Order of Australia (AM) "for service to Australia-India bilateral legal relations" in 2006.

"Cricket is of course a great bond between Australia and India. We are both cricket-mad nations. I am very pleased that we are going to confer on Sachin Tendulkar, membership of the order of Australia (AM)," Gillard, who is on a visit to India, told reporters in New Delhi.

"This is a very special honour very rarely awarded to someone who is not an Australian citizen or an Australian national. The award will be conferred on him by cabinet minister Simon Crean when he visits India," she said.

Auto, taxi strike in Delhi today

New Delhi: Brace for trouble on Tuesday as autorickshaw and taxi unions in the city have decided to go on strike. Protesting against the mandatory installation of GPS in autos, the autorickshaw unions are demanding subsidy on the GPS devices while both unions are also demanding a hike in fare.

The demand for a fare hike has been gaining momentum for some time now. Ever since the transport department last year announced that installing a GPS-based fare meter will become mandatory, the autorickshaw unions have been insisting on a fare hike.

Incidentally, in 2010, when the government had hiked the autorickshaw and taxi fares, it had added a component in the autorickshaw fare for GPS installation. Now, unions claim that rising costs of CNG as well as expenses like maintenance of parts of the three-wheeled scooter rickshaw (TSR) has put extra costs on the drivers. The government, a month ago, has also set up a committee to look into the demand for a fare hike.

On Monday though, the transport commissioner R Chandramohan, said that the union's claim that the GPS could be fitted by a particular company at high costs were invalid. "Some autorickshaw unions on one pretext or the other have been opposing the mandatory installation of GPS/GPRS enabled fare meters," said the commissioner, adding that the demand for a fare hike would not be entertained without justification.